1. Field of the Invention
This invention refers to a cyclic viewer, for slot machines, which permits either the simultaneous viewing of several symbols or images along a circumferential arc that sequentially change, or the viewing of only one image, which changes within a corresponding viewing window. Such viewer may be constructed, such that it is applicable to two or more slot machines at the same time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slot machines of the type mentioned above have been known for several years, and at an international level are based on rotating drums of a large diameter carrying images on their perimeters.
An example of this kind of machine may be observed in document EP-A-0 691 634, which discloses a cyclic viewer for slot machines offering the observer numerous changing images, comprising a motorized disc based on a flexible and transparent or translucent plastic material having images around its circumference. This type of slot machine, forbidden in Spain until recently, was authorized later on with limits including that the rotating drums could not exceed four centimeters in diameter. Obviously this limit supposes that if the images are directly arranged over the drum, their number and size are very reduced, such that the functionality of the machine is considerably reduced.
Several systems have been adopted to get around this problem, such as, for example, projection systems permitting a magnification of the images, fixed plate systems, transparent and superimposed viewing of the images by light refraction, systems based on a continuous band carrying the images to be viewed, a flexible band arranged over a series of drums, exclusively acting as guides and to drag them, such that said drums may have a diameter less than that determined as a maximum by the legislation in force, whilst the continuous band, on being a laminar body, may have any length, with no limit.